Use “ps” to display process status

If you run “ps“ command without any options, it will only show your processes who have a controlling terminal: 

  1. # ps
  2. PID TT  STAT    TIME COMMAND
  3. 854 v0  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv0
  4. 710 v1  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv1
  5. 711 v2  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv2
  6. 712 v3  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv3
  7. 713 v4  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv4
  8. 714 v5  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv5
  9. 715 v6  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv6
  10. 716 v7  Is+  0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv7
  11. 847  0  Ss   0:00.04 -csh (csh)
  12. 883  0  R+   0:00.00 ps

If you also want to see processes who don’t have a controlling terminal, add “-x“ option: 

  1. # ps -ax
  2. PID TT  STAT     TIME COMMAND
  3.   0  -  DLs   0:00.10 [kernel]
  4.   1  -  ILs   0:00.05 /sbin/init --
  5.   2  -  DL    0:00.05 [cam]
  6.   3  -  DL    0:00.00 [mpt_recovery0]
  7.   4  -  DL    0:00.00 [sctp_iterator]
  8.   5  -  DL    0:00.04 [pagedaemon]
  9.   6  -  DL    0:00.00 [vmdaemon]
  10.   7  -  DL    0:00.00 [pagezero]
  11.   8  -  DL    0:00.08 [bufdaemon]
  12.   9  -  DL    0:00.01 [vnlru]
  13.  10  -  DL    0:00.00 [audit]
  14.  11  -  RL   50:35.75 [idle]
  15.  12  -  WL    0:08.20 [intr]
  16.  13  -  DL    0:00.02 [geom]
  17.  14  -  DL    0:00.91 [rand_harvestq]
  18.  15  -  DL    0:00.44 [usb]
  19.  16  -  DL    0:00.20 [syncer]
  20. 302  -  Is    0:00.01 dhclient: em0 [priv] (dhclient)
  21. 364  -  Is    0:00.00 dhclient: em0 (dhclient)
  22. 379  -  Is    0:00.00 /sbin/devd
  23. 524  -  Ss    0:00.02 /usr/sbin/syslogd -s
  24. 652  -  Is    0:00.00 /usr/sbin/sshd
  25. 655  -  Ss    0:00.10 sendmail: accepting connections (sendmail)
  26. 658  -  Is    0:00.00 sendmail: Queue runner@00:30:00 for /var/spool/clientmqueue (sendmail)
  27. 662  -  Ss    0:00.01 /usr/sbin/cron -s
  28. 844  -  Ss    0:00.06 sshd: root@pts/0 (sshd)
  29. 854 v0  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv0
  30. 710 v1  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv1
  31. 711 v2  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv2
  32. 712 v3  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv3
  33. 713 v4  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv4
  34. 714 v5  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv5
  35. 715 v6  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv6
  36. 716 v7  Is+   0:00.00 /usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyv7
  37. 847  0  Ss    0:00.04 -csh (csh)
  38. 897  0  R+    0:00.00 ps -ax

This time, there are more results whose TT columns are -.

The most used “ps“ command is “ps auwwx“ which displays all running processes detailed info, and this is similar to “# ps -ef“ on GNU/Linux: 

  1.  # ps auwwx
  2. USER  PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ  RSS TT  STAT STARTED     TIME COMMAND
  3. root   11 99.2  0.0     0   16  -  RL    5:48PM 54:14.29 [idle]
  4. root    0  0.0  0.0     0  160  -  DLs   5:48PM  0:00.10 [kernel]
  5. root    1  0.0  0.0  9492  772  -  ILs   5:48PM  0:00.05 /sbin/init --
  6. root    2  0.0  0.0     0   32  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.05 [cam]
  7. root    3  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.00 [mpt_recovery0]
  8. root    4  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.00 [sctp_iterator]
  9. root    5  0.0  0.0     0   32  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.05 [pagedaemon]
  10. root    6  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.00 [vmdaemon]
  11. root    7  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.00 [pagezero]
  12. root    8  0.0  0.0     0   32  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.08 [bufdaemon]
  13. root    9  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.01 [vnlru]
  14. root   10  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.00 [audit]
  15. root   12  0.0  0.0     0  208  -  WL    5:48PM  0:08.78 [intr]
  16. root   13  0.0  0.0     0   48  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.02 [geom]
  17. root   14  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.98 [rand_harvestq]
  18. root   15  0.0  0.0     0  160  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.47 [usb]
  19. root   16  0.0  0.0     0   16  -  DL    5:48PM  0:00.21 [syncer]
  20. root  302  0.0  0.1 14656 2148  -  Is    5:48PM  0:00.01 dhclient: em0 [priv] (dhclient)
  21. _dhcp 364  0.0  0.1 14656 2236  -  Is    5:48PM  0:00.00 dhclient: em0 (dhclient)
  22. root  379  0.0  0.2 13628 4932  -  Ss    5:48PM  0:00.00 /sbin/devd
  23. root  524  0.0  0.1 14520 2092  -  Ss    5:48PM  0:00.02 /usr/sbin/syslogd -s
  24. root  652  0.0  0.3 61316 6564  -  Is    5:48PM  0:00.00 /usr/sbin/sshd
  25. root  655  0.0  0.3 24156 5380  -  Ss    5:48PM  0:00.10 sendmail: accepting connections (sendmail)
  26. smmsp 658  0.0  0.2 24156 5044  -  Is    5:48PM  0:00.00 sendmail: Queue runner@00:30:00 for /var/spool/clientmqueue (sendmail)
  27. root  662  0.0  0.1 16624 2212  -  Is    5:48PM  0:00.01 /usr/sbin/cron -s

References:
ps — process status;
Processes and Daemons;
Show all processes in FreeBSD.